~tunes That live in the deep history and the imaginative future of traditional music~

Kate Gregory and Brendan Hearn form an innovative duo that brings together American Old Time, Irish, and other folk music traditions on fiddle and cello. Kate (fiddle) and Brendan (cello) formed their friendship and musical connection at fiddle camps on the West and East coasts of the US and as members of the Ministry of Folk team. They combine their backgrounds from multiple musical styles and shared appreciation for melody and groove to create rhythmic arrangements of traditional and original tunes and songs. The tunes they play and write live both in the rich and multi-continental history and in the imaginative future of traditional music. The duo had their debut performance in January of 2023 at the Boston Celtic Music Festival. Keep an eye out for upcoming shows in the Pacific Northwest this July.

Kate Gregory grew up in Colorado where she played classical violin for years before learning to play Irish fiddle when she was in college and falling in love with traditional music. She met her fiddle teacher, Boulder-based fiddler Adam Agee, when she had completely put down her violin, feeling frustrated with the rigidity of classical performance and stuck in her progress. Learning to play traditional music unleashed new creativity and her life took a path of exploring different types of traditional music, playing at local sessions, performing with different music collaborators, and going to fiddle camps from California to Sweden. At fiddle camps especially, she found a love of American Old Time music and further developed her Old Time playing under the direction of Natalie Padilla. Today, her playing is inspired by her classical background and the numerous fiddle traditions she loves, culminating in a creative and rhythmic playing style. 

Kate now lives in Portland, OR, where she is part of several musical projects, including the Irish band Kate and the Lads, and teaches fiddle. She has performed up and down the Pacific Northwest, including at the Bellingham Celtic Festival with multi-instrumentalist Baron Collins-Hill. When not playing music, she has been researching environmental justice and inequity in urban greenspace at Portland State University and she will graduate with a Master’s Degree in Geography in June, 2023.

Brendan Hearn is from Maryland where he grew up playing both classical and traditional music on the cello. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, and travels up and down the East Coast (and now the West Coast) for gigs, recording projects, and workshops.